


The Takodana Winter Festival (Modern Reylo AU)

by Jaidan Mosra (Myriai)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Attempted Sexual Assault, Construction Worker Ben, Existing Relationship (Strained), Family Man Ben Solo, Finn is a bartender, Former Teacher/Student, From Zero to Hero, Happy Ending, Maz is a Matchmaker, Mentions of miscarriage, Modern AU, Multi, Random Genderswap Hux & Phasma ‘cuz I wanted to, Rebuilding Life after Tragedy, Rey is a mechanic, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo Twins, Rose is a Country Singer, Save a Marriage, Soft Ben Solo, This fic is dedicated to 90’s Country Music, Winter Holiday Related, original characters (Reylo kids), small town life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2019-09-20 02:33:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17013924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myriai/pseuds/Jaidan%20Mosra
Summary: Possible Triggers: Mention of Miscarriage (later)They were a small town scandal.  A high school student with a bright future seduced by the outsider brooding high school teacher that came out of nowhere.  Married at eighteen with a just-visible bump under the empress waistline of her off-white wedding dress, everyone was stunned when it was the girl who took off two years later leaving a pair of twins with a disgraced teacher trying to make ends meet.Six years later, Rey MacGregor Solo returns to Takodana just in time for the famous "Takodana Winter Festival", the first one to be held in four years since a tornado ravaged the small Texas town.  Her best friend Rose Tico, an up and coming country artist, is the entertainment and begged Rey to come with her. Rey's plans are to drift in and out of town with her (probably ex) husband and children never knowing she's there.  However, in a small town word gets around fast and before she knows it Rey is face-to-face with her (probably ex) husband in the Mos Eisley Bar...Rey knows she doesn't deserve a second chance to reclaim her world, but the town matchmakers and perhaps Ben Solo himself have entirely different ideas.





	1. Who's that Man?

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look it's another Modern Reylo AU--and this one seems to have a Hallmark movie twist (this wasn't entirely intentional when I first started writing it).
> 
> This story was spurred when I woke up with the words to a 90's country song called "Who's that Man?" (by Toby Keith) running through my head for no reason (I've put a link to a YouTube playlist in the end notes for the curious) and for some reason it seemed to twist around so that it was Rey who left Ben behind with their kids and so here we are.
> 
> I blame my current decision to listen to 90's country completely on this story--even if it actually takes place closer to now--also all titles of the chapters are likely to be 90's country song titles (and will likely be added to the playlist). Sorry (not sorry? I'm not sure)
> 
> Some disclaimers:
> 
> 1) I've never gone through a miscarriage, but some of my nearest and dearest have so I hope I handle it with the delicate care and consideration that the subject deserves--this does not come up in the first couple chapters, but I wanted to get that warning out now so it doesn't blindside anyone.
> 
> 2) I don't live in a small town so I'm sure some of it is romanticized, but I'm trying to hold on to some semblance of realism.
> 
> 3) Most of the Rey x Kylo Ren style dynamics are probably happened before this story begins (at present I don't have an intention to write a prequel to this)--what we're left with is two people who love each other so much, but they're both frightened to give it a second chance
> 
> 4) I have no beta, if there's a mistake it's all my fault and I'll own that shizz.

** Who’s that Man? **

Six years.

Rey MacGregor Solo clenched her hand in the faded, too-large leather jacket she wore, the fading sunlight glinting off the delicate gold ring on the third finger of her left hand.  She stood at the end of the driveway staring at the house cast in the cool shade of the live oak he’d planted for her just before the twins were born—she’d wanted it big enough for the kids to climb in when they were old enough.  He’d done that and so much more over the two years they lived in the house together and she could see that he went forward with a lot of the other improvements they’d discussed on and off once they reached a ‘more stable place’.  She could still see the remnants of chalk drawings on the cement underneath the old pickup truck that still stood in the driveway.

“Ma’am?  Are you lost?  Can I help you?”

The words startled Rey and she glanced over to see a boy with big ears poking out of thick curly black hair.  He was alone and Rey frowned.  “No, I’m not, but…”

“This is my house,” the boy declared with a smile.  “If you need directions, I can go get Dad…”

Rey’s eyes flew open wide and her gloved hand went to her mouth.  “Ah, no, that’s okay,” she said.  “I was just thinking it was a pretty house is all.”

The boy beamed at her.  “Dad puts a lot of work into it.  I’ll let him know you think it’s pretty.  You’re pretty too.”

A flush chased along Rey’s cheeks and she managed a smile.  “Thank you.  Is it just you and your dad?”

He shook his head.  “Claire’s here too.  I’m Jamie.  My dad’s Ben.  We lived here before I was born.  What’s your name?”

“Rey,” she answered automatically.

The boy’s eyes widened for a moment.  “Dad said my mom’s name was Rey.  She left when we were babies.”

Rey heard the click of a door and the familiar sound of the screen door opening.  “Jamie, it’s almost dinner.”

She knew that voice and she couldn’t help but turn her head to see the tall, hulking man in the doorway.  “Okay, I’m coming!” Jamie shouted.  “Bye bye Miss Rey.”

“Good-bye,” she said numbly and rushed down the sidewalk.

She was sure it was her imagination that she could feel a pair of dark eyes boring into her back as she nearly ran down around the next corner.

She reached the main street of Takodana, TX and found it teeming with preparations for the Takodana Winter Festival, everyone buzzing about the fact that the up and coming country star Rose Tico was going to be performing at the culmination of the celebration.  What they didn’t know was that Rose Tico’s BFF was raised right here from the age of eight and what Rose didn’t know is that this was the world that Rey left behind before they met four years previous working in the same diner in another two stoplight town in Arizona.  Rey walked the streets with relative confidence now that she was away from the house she’d spent most of her life in because she’d walked into Maz’s Diner earlier and there wasn’t even a small flash of recognition from the old woman at the counter or the two waitresses that Rey knew were classmates from high school.  If Maz didn’t recognize her, nobody would and that is what Rey wanted.  They needed to get in and out of this town so that she could go back to Arizona and forget about everything all over again.

The little boy’s, _her_ little boy’s, warm smile played through her mind again and Rey closed her eyes.  She had no place in this story anymore, she was nobody, and it would be best for all involved if she stayed that way.  It really would—and maybe if she told herself that enough times she would actually believe and this old longing would go away.

“Rey!”

Rey nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled around to see Ermelinda Huxtable speed-walking towards her (it would be undignified to run), the redhead’s high heels clicked a sharp staccato against the sidewalk.  Ermalinda was Rose’s manager and she had a look on her pale face that Rey recognized all too well.  “Did she find the bar?” Rey asked.

Ermelinda gave her a pained look and Rey smiled ruefully.  “I’ll go get her,” she said.  “If I recall correctly the Mos Eisley has karaoke on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  You know she can’t pass up a chance to sing.”

“People pay good money to hear her sing.  How are we going to keep that going if they can just run down to the local bar and hear her sing whenever?” the redhead demanded.

Rey’s eyes narrowed a bit, but she managed to bite back the first response that sprang to her lips.  “I sincerely doubt it’s going to keep anyone from paying to see her,” Rey stated, “but she does have a spot on one of the parade floats tomorrow so I’ll make sure she gets back to the Coruscant so she’ll be plenty rested for it.”

“I’m going to put Phaz at her door next time,” Ermelinda growled.  “He’ll make sure that she doesn’t get out of the room again.”

“We’re on tour, not in prison,” Rey stated flatly.  “Bugger off.  Even stars need to blow off steam and singing karaoke is the least likely thing to cause a PR fiasco for First Order Records—she doesn’t drink, she just wants to sing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ermelinda snorted.  “See that she gets back to the hotel soon or I will send Phaz out.  We only agreed to let you come along because she promised to listen to you.”

Rey nodded and waited until the red-head’s back was turned before she flipped her off and turned down the roads she knew like the back of her hand.  Despite the tornado that ripped through Takodana four years ago, it was still like she remembered it.  Some of the buildings were obviously rebuilt and the town took the savagery of the tornado as an opportunity to rebuild—even adding a _third_ street light. 

She could hear the music from the Mos Eisley Bar from a street over and shook her head, a smile playing on her lips as she made the rest of the trek.  Rey had only seen the inside of the Fett’s bar on a few occasions because it doubled as a restaurant on the weekends and her grandfather loved Jango’s Cajun fries, said it reminded him of good times he spent with an old army buddy in Louisiana who passed away years before he formally adopted Rey.  Those memories were good, less good was the last time she’d come with Ben after they’d gotten married, but they’d never returned because the barely concealed censure directed at him made an uncomfortable dining experience.

She rounded the corner across the street from the bar and after a quick glance to both sides of the empty street, Rey crossed.  She slipped into the interior and heard a familiar set of smoky vocals coming from the small stage and she couldn’t help but smile as she watched Rose singing about “Romeo”.   Rose’s eyes lit on Rey and she grinned.  “C’mon girl, get up here and sing with me I need some back up!”

Rey’s first instinct was to refuse, but her friend had a particular look on her face that Rey couldn’t say ‘no’ to and she headed to the stage accepting the other mic from the DJ joining in on the song—one they’d performed together for fun at numerous karaoke nights.  For the moment, singing with her best friend, Rey was able to forget that they were in her old hometown and that she didn’t want anybody to remember the girl who left six years ago.

After the song finished, Rose caught Rey’s arm.  “You’ve gotta meet the bartender, he makes an _amazing_ Shirley Temple!”

Rey hesitated, her eyes flying to the bar and realizing there was someone new manning the bar that she’d never seen before.  “Finn said he moved to town when the construction jobs opened four years ago and liked it so much he decided to stay.  He says he still works construction for part of the week, but picked up some hours here because Mary Jane Fett wanted to be home with her kids a few nights a week since their dad was on deployment.”

Rey relaxed minutely as they made their way to the bar and the dark-skinned man gave her a broad smile.  “You must be Ray-Bay,” he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners.  “Rosie said you’re her sanity.  What can I get you?”

“You’ve gotta try his Shirley Temple,” Rose urged.  “I know you’re not huge on sweet, but it’s amazing!”

“I can make a different variation that’s not quite as sweet if you’d like?” Finn offered.  “It’s got a bit more bite, but no alcohol.  It’s made with tonic water, lemon syrup, and just a bit of grenadine.”

Rey smiled.  “That sounds lovely.”

Finn made a show of putting the drink together bringing a smile to Rose and Rey’s faces and set it down with a flourish and a wink.  “Your tab’s on me tonight as a welcome to Takodana,” he said.

His gaze was more on Rose than Rey, but they smiled at him before he went off to help another person at the bar.

“Hux sent you didn’t she?” Rose asked, her voice was resigned as she sipped the Shirley Temple Finn made her.

Rey nodded.  “We’re supposed to immediately go back to the hotel,” she said, “or she’s threatening to send Phaz after us.”

“I’ve been stuck on that stupid bus for three days Rey, nobody told me Texas was this big,” Rose complained.  “Why can’t I go unwind just like everyone else when they’re not working?  They only got us a hotel here because we’re staying a couple days for the Winter Festival…”

“I know, Rosie, but they’re the boss, you can’t dodge the rules of First Order Records and still expect to be able to work with them to get your career off the ground.  You’ve got a year of the three years on the contract down, just two more and then if you decide to go somewhere else you can,” Rey said.

“You’re not going to be with me those entire three years are you?” Rose’s lip trembled.

“I don’t know, Rosie,” Rey said softly.  “It’s up to them.  I’m just playing PA and trying to help where I can.”

Rose laid her head against Rey’s shoulder.  “I almost wish Hux hadn’t found me at Niima’s that night,” she mumbled, “or at least I wasn’t so quick to take that offer.  Something else could’ve cropped up.”

“We’ll never know what could’ve been,” Rey said.  “We’ve got to deal with what’s going on now.  Go sing a few more songs then we’ll go back.  You’re going to be on one of the floats tomorrow for the parade.”

Rose gave her a grateful smile and headed back to the DJ to put in a few more songs while Rey moved to a darker corner of the bar and settled down with her drink.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

There was a low drawl that immediately caused Rey to stiffen.  “Look what trash blew into town.”

Rey glanced up in the mirror behind the bar confirming who the speaker was before she replied.  Six years hadn’t been kind to the former captain of the football team and Unkar Plutt resembled a pig more than the hottest boy in school that every other girl in town drooled over.  She’d heard he’d flunked out of the college he got a full-ride to and returned to take over his daddy’s junk shop at the edge of town.  She focused on her drink silently hoping he would just disappear, but a pudgy hand reached out and caught her shoulder and yanked her around on the bar stool.  “You can’t fucking ignore me Rey MacGregor, I know what you are you dirty wh—”

Spittle flicked in her face and Rey’s hands clenched hard in the shelter of the jacket she still wore.  “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve coming back here after—”

“After what, Plutt?”

The new voice was low and deadly and one Rey also knew.  Her eyes flashed upwards to see the huge form of Ben Solo suddenly taking up half the bar.  “After she—”

“After she what?” Ben asked silkily.  “Go ahead and say it—if you want to breathe through your mouth for the new year...”

Ben loomed over the former football player by several inches and he apparently hadn’t let himself go since Rey left him sleeping in their bed six years ago.  If nothing else, he seemed like he’d grown bigger—musclewise not gone to fat like Plutt—over the past few years.  One of the discoveries today that prompted her visit to her old street was walking by Solo Construction Co. in a shiny new building near the building that served as the town hall and police station.  She swallowed almost as heavily as Plutt and another voice came from behind her.  “I think you’ve had enough for the night Unkar.”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Finn glaring at the man almost as fiercely as Ben arms crossed over his chest.  “Hey Poe…do you think you could escort the trouble from the bar before things get wrecked.”

“Sure thing, Finn,” Poe Dameron said strolling over.  “I may be off duty, but I can still toss you in a holding cell to cool down Plutt.”

Rey’s eyes widened at the words, her eyes flickering to Ben then to the off-duty officer.  Last she remembered, it would’ve been Ben escorted from the premises even with Unkar starting it.  She found her gaze met by the familiar dark gaze of her husband—actually probably ex-husband by now, it was six years, it wouldn’t be hard to secure a divorce on grounds of abandonment—and her breath caught.  “How—” she began.

Ben didn’t answer until Unkar was led from the bar and sent on his way home and his gaze settled back on her.  “Maz,” he said simply.  “The old busybody came over straight after her niece took her spot at the diner and told me you were back in town.  She said she’d watch Claire and Jamie if I wanted to talk to you.”

“And you did?” she asked blankly.

“I did what?” Ben frowned.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Rey asked.

“Yeah,” Ben said curtly.  “But not here.”

Rose hopped up on the stage as the first strains of “Man I Feel like a Woman” sounded.

Rey cast an eye to the list and saw that Rose was up for two more songs, but there was about three names separating each of them.  She gulped down the rest of her drink, momentarily wishing that she’d gotten something with alcohol, liquid courage and all that, but she never did when she went out with Rose.  She choked and Ben gently pounded her back until things settled.  “You shouldn’t drink so fast,” he observed.

Rey wiped the back of her hand over her lips and grabbed one of the napkins and dabbed her lips and dried her hand.  “Finn…” she managed raspily noting the bartender was still there.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Tell Rose I’ll be back to watch her perform her last number and make sure she gets some water or tea with honey, she always goes all out on this song even if she knows better,” Rey said.

Finn smiled.  “Sure thing.  You gonna be okay?”

He was eyeing her and Ben questioningly a bit of worry in his nearly black eyes.

Rey nodded.  “He’s my h…an old friend,” she said stumbling for an instant; thankfully Finn didn’t seem to be aware of her gaff.

“The outside porch is usually empty at this time of year, it’s a bit too chilly even with drinks,” Finn said helpfully.

Ben nodded and Rey slipped off her bar stool, leading the way to the patio exit.

True to Finn’s word, the only person outside was a smoker and as soon as they finished their cigarette and stubbed it out they went back in, seemingly unaware of the other two.  Rey knew that word would be getting around before she took her next deep breath though…there was little chance of hiding things in a town like this and Plutt’s outburst probably cued a lot of people in to her presence.

She made a bee line for the railing of the patio and stared over the silent night outside the bar.  The chilly wind felt like it was biting through her jacket, but she knew it wasn’t that when the next words came.

“What are you doing here, Rey?”

Rey flinched—not a hello, how are you, or any pleasantries—no, Ben was never good at that.

“Just passing through,” Rey said.  “I’ll be gone in two days and you won’t have to see me again.  I promise.”

“Jamie said he met a woman named Rey outside of our house over dinner today.  His description of her sounded a lot like you,” Ben said.  “What were you doing there?  I’m not going to let you waltz back into Claire and Jamie’s life just to leave again.”

“It was an accident, running into him at least,” Rey said.  “I just took the time Rose was resting up and refreshing to look at the town and see how things changed.  Maz didn’t seem to recognize me…”

“She dried your tears when Jess bullied you and mended Mr. Bear fifteen times a month, the hell she’s not going to recognize you,” Ben stated flatly, “even if you’ve cut your hair, learned how to do make-up, and found something other than old overalls to dress in.”

“I was hoping…” Rey said.

“Hoping what?” Ben asked.

“Hoping to be in and out of town without you realizing I’m here,” Rey said.

“In and out like a whisper of wind not even a good-bye—just like when you left.”

Rey blinked her eyes rapidly, she was not going to cry—Ben’s former life as an English teacher slipped out at the oddest times.  She took a deep breath and turned around to face him, ready to unleash…something…on him…

Fuck, he was huge. 

She’d forgotten just how far above her he towered and Rey was not a short woman, she wasn’t Ermelinda’s 5’11, but 5’7 was pretty respectable.  “I just wanted to see how things changed,” Rey said finding her voice after a few seconds.  “I heard on the news about the tornado and I was wondering…but it’s exactly the same…but that makes it feel even more unreal.”

“What were you doing at the house, Rey?” Ben asked quietly.

“Just looking,” Rey said.  “You found a life that doesn’t include me and I’m not going to crash in.  I don’t have any right to.  I’m sorry Jamie just happened to be coming home when I stopped to see how things changed.  He seems to be doing well and it seems like Claire is probably doing well too.  Thank you for taking care of Grandpa’s house.  I promise I won’t…”

“Don’t you have something else to ask me while we’re standing here?” Ben asked quietly.

Rey blinked at him owlishly for a long moment.  “Like what?” she asked.

“Like if we’re still married,” Ben suggested.

She swallowed.  “I, uh, left…Texas law says one year…I…” her words fell one over the other, jumbling together on her tongue.  “Are we still married?”

“Yes.”


	2. Not a Day Goes By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the conversation at Mos Eisley, Ben and the twins get together for breakfast then head to the parade route to meet Maz. There is a somewhat unexpected person with Maz and the kids have reactions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait between the posting of last chapter and this chapter.
> 
> I'm finally feeling the muse stir on this one and I'm hoping to get it finished up.
> 
> I'm determined to have at least one Reylo fan fiction finished before December 20th.
> 
> I was originally going to call this something else, but the title wound up not feeling like it fit, so I picked a different title.
> 
> "Not a Day Goes By" is a song performed by Lone Star
> 
> Lyrics that struck me:
> 
> "Not a day goes by that I don't think of you  
> After all this time you're still with me it's true  
> Somehow you remain locked so deep inside  
> Baby, baby, oh baby, not a day goes by
> 
> Minutes turn to hours, and the hours to days  
> Seems it's been forever that I've felt this way"

** Not a Day Goes By **

_Why did she have to come back now?_

Ben Solo groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, his dark eyes going to the picture that still sat on the bedside table next to his bed.  The silver frame was tarnished, at least he’d been able to neglect that, but inside was a picture of him in a dark suit and an eighteen-year-old Rey in an empire-waist off-white wedding dress that gave the illusion of hiding the swell of her stomach—he dusted that glass at least once a week.  The Rey in the picture had long, thick waves that cascaded to her waist, one side of her hair held back with a floral pin he’d presented her two nights before the wedding since she declared that she wouldn’t wear a veil nor a white gown all things considered.  There wasn’t a day that he didn’t curse himself for the loss of control that brought their world tumbling down around them, but…

He heard the sounds of the twins starting to move around and smiled softly.

He could not, would not regret his children.

He shoved himself out of bed and tugged on a pair of faded jeans and an old flannel shirt and headed downstairs in bare feet to start breakfast for the kids.  He’d gotten the pancakes onto the griddle when Claire and Jamie came tumbling through the door and crashed into him.  “Mornin’ Daddy!” Claire said with a bright gap-toothed smile.

She’d lost her two front teeth a week or so ago when she bit into too done slice of pizza and he couldn’t help but ruffle her soft chestnut hair.  “Mornin’ Claire, Jamie—be careful, the griddle’s hot.”

“We didn’t come anywhere close to touching it,” Jamie said wrinkling his nose.  “We _were_ careful, Dad.”

“Pancakes?” Claire asked even though she could already see what he was preparing.

Ben nodded and Claire skipped over to the fridge.  “I’ll get some eggs to scramble.  Jamie, your turn to set the table I set it for supper ‘cuz you were late.”

“I was not late!” Jamie exclaimed huffily.  “There was a lady who looked like she needed directions so I did the gentlemanly thing and offered.”

“Yeah right,” Claire said, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Well, she is right about it being your turn to set the table,” Ben said.  “Claire, I’ll…”

“Mama Maz showed me how to make eggs, Daddy. I’m not a baby anymore.  I can do it!” Claire said a stubborn glint in her nearly green hazel eyes.

Ben wanted to argue with her, but sighed.  At eight, the kids were more than capable of picking up chores around the house, probably a bit _too_ capable if you asked him.  Jamie and Claire seemed to be leagues ahead of their classmates, insisting on learning how to help Ben around the house since some days he worked long hours and they wanted to make sure that ‘Daddy was taken care of too’ and their babysitters, Maz and Kaydel usually, were more than willing to teach them whatever their little hearts desired.

“All right, be careful though, I don’t want you to burn yourself,” Ben said.

“Where did you go last night when Mama Maz came over?” Jamie asked curiously from where he was up on one of the two step stools that populated the kitchen now grabbing the plastic plates from the cabinets.

“I had to take care of something in town,” Ben said.

“Did you see the pretty Rey lady?” Jamie asked hopping down with three plates and moving to the table.

“Why would I have seen the pretty Rey lady?” Ben asked carefully, flipping one of the pancakes.

“’Cuz she looks like the picture of Mom on your bedside table,” Jamie said setting the plates down in their places and moving to the silverware drawer. "Just shorter hair."

Ben tensed.  Of course they would remember the one picture he found himself unable to put away.  He’d never said anything bad about Rey to their children, but he’d carefully packed and stored the seven albums worth of memories their first two years of marriage created when the twins started asking more questions.  He didn’t want to them to be hurt and he wasn’t ready to face their questions about why Mom left for their sake and his own.

His mind wandered back to the conversation with Rey the night before.

_“Why?”_

_“Why what?”_

_“Why did you…why…” Rey seemed to have trouble getting the words out._

_“Say it,” he said quietly._

_“Why didn’t you divorce me?” she managed.  “You should hate me.  I…”_

_Ben sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face.  “I don’t know why Rey,” he finally said.  “Maybe I was still waiting for you to come home.”_

_“It’s been six years,” Rey whispered._

_“I know,” Ben replied. “I’ve felt every day of them.”_

_Rey turned away and stared back into the darkness, Ben realized belatedly she was wearing the leather jacket that he’d lent her on the night of the homecoming dance when she fled from a date who was being too handsy._

_“Do you want me to divorce you?” Ben asked.  “You didn’t give me a chance to even ask that question.”_

_“You probably should,” Rey said._

_“But do you_ **want** _me to divorce you?” Ben pressed._

_Rey looked at him with a look reminiscent of a deer in headlights before her eyes went to the bar.  “I’ve gotta go.  Rose is up and I have to get her to the hotel room after this song.”_

Ben sighed.  The truth was he did have the paperwork to turn in for the divorce, but he wasn’t able to bring himself to turn it in.  He’d gotten it two years after Rey left and finished it just as the tornado ripped through town.  By the time they’d pulled everything together and got things going back towards normal, the anger that drove him to the office to get the papers vanished and he was left with an empty hole where his heart should be and the papers were put away.

Ben tried to figure out how to dodge this conversation, but Jamie was having none of it.  He put the silverware on the table while Claire hummed, standing on the other stool and scrambling the eggs under Ben’s watchful eyes.  “Her name is Rey and she looks like Mom,” Jamie said.  “She looked sad when she was looking at the house.  Mama Maz came over and told you an ‘old friend’ was in town and you left right after dinner.  I’m a kid, but even I know how those stupid Hallmark movies turn out in the end.”

Ben groaned.  “Who’s been watching Hallmark movies with you?” he asked.

“Kaydel,” Claire said not looking away from the eggs.  “It’s our compromise.  She didn’t want to watch _Glitter Force_ and we didn’t want to watch _CSI_ so we decided to watch Christmas movies. Aside from the kissing, they’re kinda fun.”

“And so you think this is a Hallmark movie?” Ben asked slowly.

“It could be,” Jamie said.

“I doubt it will be anything like that,” Ben finally said after expertly flipping the pancakes onto a serving plate as Claire finished the eggs.

Ben claimed the pan off the stove before his daughter could grab a pot holder and divvied out the eggs to the plates silently before putting it by the sink.  They settled down at the table and breakfast conversation moved to other topics—namely what time they needed to get downtown to see the parade that was supposed to kick off the Takodana Winter Festival.

After the meal was finished, Ben washed the dishes while Jamie dried them and Claire put them up.  They weren’t always cooperative, but with the Winter Festival and the holiday sneaking up on them they were on their best behavior.  After the breakfast dishes were taken care of, they pulled on jackets and headed out the door.

Ben locked the door after them only because he still hadn’t broken the habit from when he lived in the city before he took the teaching position at Takodana High—it drove Maz and Kaydel crazy when they were coming to the house to watch the kids.  He held out his hands silently and the kids slipped theirs into his and he smiled softly down at them.  They could drive to the parade route, but it was just as easy to walk.  Maz promised to save them seats at the end of route where Rose Tico would be doing the first of her concerts after the parade ended.

Ben picked up flashing swords for the two kids at the vendor at their request and headed to where Maz said she was waiting.  However, it wasn’t Maz he spotted first.

As they drew in closer, the first thing that caught his eye was Rey dressed in a soft-looking white sweater with a tan scarf that matched her pants around her neck.  His eyes moved helplessly down her slender legs to find her feet encased in a pair of worn boots he knew all too well as they’d been one of his first gifts to her after they were married.  Her chestnut hair was brushed and a pair of sunglasses rested on her head seemingly forgotten for the moment.

Their eyes met and even from the distance he immediately recognized that she was embarrassed and about to run.  She bent down to say something to her companion and Ben realized with a start that it was Maz and his eyes narrowed for just an instant.

“There’s Mama Maz!” Claire shouted excitedly and tore away from him. 

The crowd parted with doting smiles as the girl bolted through them and practically flung herself at the ancient diner owner.  Maz caught her in a warm hug and Ben had no choice but to follow.  He watched as the color faded from Rey’s face making the blush stand out more than it should against her skin.  “I’m sorry,” she apologized in a rush.  “I’ve got to…”

“You just told me that you didn’t have anywhere else to stand, dear,” Maz said a withered hand shooting out and catching the girl’s wrist in what Ben knew could be a vise grip.

“I’m pretty sure that I shouldn’t stay here,” Rey said her eyes flickering up to meet Ben’s and dodging away immediately.

His breath caught and his fingers tightened for just an instant.  Jamie yanked his hand out of his father’s grip and glared up at him for just a moment before turning his dark eyes to Rey.  “Hi Miss Rey, did you find where you were going last night?” he asked cheerfully.

Jamie closed the distance between them and Rey and looked up at her earnestly.

“Ah, yes, I did,” she said finally.

“Good, I’m glad,” Jamie grinned.  “This is my dad.  Like I said yesterday, his name is Ben.  He can tell you anything and everything about the town if you get lost again.  That’s my sister Claire.  We’re twins.”

Ben half-held his breath waiting for the question he knew was on the tip of the children’s tongues as they both regarded Rey.  Unlike Jamie who seemed quite content to sidle up to Rey, Claire watched the woman with outright suspicion.  Claire moved in closer to Maz and seemed to have a mildly possessive air around her as she wrapped her arms around the older woman.  Placing herself between Rey and Maz, Claire let her gaze wander up to meet Rey’s.  “Who’s this lady?”

“Rey MacGregor S—” Maz’s mouth snapped shut on the last word before it escaped at Rey’s frantic head shaking.  “Rey MacGregor.  Her grandfather used to live in these parts and she stayed with him for a while.  You don’t mind if she hangs out with us do you?”

“Do I have a choice?” Claire asked.

“Of course you do,” Rey said.  “I really should go. I can probably find…”

“Please…stay,” Ben finally forced words through the lump that gathered in his throat as he regarded his wife.  “They really are the best seats on the route.”

“I…” Rey began.

“Are you going to run away again?” Claire asked.

Rey visibly flinched at the girl’s inquiry and Ben could hear the inhale and the trembling exhale of her breath.

“Claire…” Ben began.

“Oooh…the music started.  The parade should be going soon,” Jamie announced overriding his father’s scolding tone.

“I suppose you’ll have to stay right here,” Maz observed contentedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. That Ain't No Way to Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reason for Rey's departure from Takodana is revealed leaving raw emotions and a whole lotta of things to be worked out.
> 
> ~ Excerpt ~
> 
> There was no excuse for her.
> 
> There still wasn’t.
> 
> The night Rey left, she didn’t know where she was going. Part of her just wanted to catch a ride down to Galveston and vanish somewhere into the Gulf of Mexico. She did actually make it all the way to the beach, but the cell phone she foolishly forgot to leave behind buzzed in the worn out backpack she’d taken with her and she picked it up.
> 
> “Rey, sweetheart, where are you? I’m coming for you.”
> 
> Rey hadn’t answered him just watched the waves crashing on the beach for a long moment before dropping the phone and walking away as the tide pulled it in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tough chapter to write, but then it all came together all of the sudden and thus here's an update.
> 
> This chapter's title come from "That Ain't No Way to Go" by Brooks & Dunn
> 
> Lyrics that hit:
> 
> You left with no warning  
> Like a thief in the night, you ran away with my heart  
> I can't believe my eyes, must be a bad dream  
> You always said we had a good thing  
> You never once let on we were falling apart
> 
> That ain't no way to go. Girl, it just ain't right  
> Don't you think that I deserve to hear you say goodbye  
> That ain't no way to go. Was it all a lie?

** That Ain’t No Way to Go **

_“I’m sorry Mrs. Solo.  We weren’t able to save your baby.”_

_The words shattered Rey’s world and she clutched her hands around her middle feeling hollow and empty._

_It was all her fault._

_She should have been more careful.  All she could remember was the squealing tires coming around the corner as she was crossing the street, the feel of the asphalt as she slid across it, and the sound of the vehicle roaring off leaving her sprawled helplessly on the pavement._

_A neighbor called the ambulance then Ben.  Her husband was by her side when she came out of surgery.  He was there when the doctor made his grave announcement and wrapped her in a gentle hug nuzzling into her hair and trying to comfort her as best as he could._

Rey was dragged from her memory by a tug on her sleeve and she glanced down to see Jamie excitedly pointing as Arthur Tooley, the mayor of Takodana, came into sight, the short, stout man waving from the gold colored car with his stoic ever-present PA driving the vintage vehicle. “Look it’s the mayor!” he shouted.

The moment was surreal for Rey, feeling foreign and familiar at the same time.  “He’s been the mayor since I was your age” Rey said.  “He hasn’t changed much.  He touched up the paint on his car though.”

“Dad says mom used to work in Chewie’s Garage,” Jamie said.  “He said working on Mayor Tooley’s car was one of her favorite things.”

Rey blinked the sudden tears that came into her eyes.  “Did he now?” she asked.

“Yeah, he said mom loved to work on cars and used to spend hours on our truck,” Jamie said.

Rey glanced down at the little boy who seemed to be completely focused on the parade.

She looked over where Ben was standing next to Maz, his hands buried in his pockets and froze as their eyes met.  Ben’s focus wasn’t on the parade, it was on her and Rey honestly didn’t know what to do.  She knew coming to Takodana with Rose was risky, but she never expected to have all of her best laid plans to avoid the family she left behind wrecked and be standing watching the Takodana Winter Festival Parade with the ones she’d wanted to avoid. 

She tore her eyes away from him and watched the volunteer fire department float trundle up the road.  The faces of the fire volunteers hadn’t changed much in six years and they all waved at everyone, preening at the cheers.  Following the Fire department was the representative of the first of the five ranches that still existed just outside of the Takodana town limits.  She shivered for a moment and felt more than saw Ben come up behind her and drop his heavy jacket on her shoulders.

“I’m fine, I…” she began.

“Your lips are turning blue,” Ben stated quietly.  “Mom’s investigators told me you’ve been living in Arizona for the past few years.  It’s only expected that it would get a little chilly now.”

Rey’s hands clenched in his jacket and she fought the urge to whip it off.  “You had your mother investigate me?” she asked quietly.

“After the last night I needed to know you were alive and well,” Ben said very softly so that their son couldn’t hear him.

Rey’s breath caught.

_The days after the accident were a blur.  She tried with all her might to pull herself back together and even put up a good enough façade everyone but Ben was fooled.  No matter how long passed, Ben always seemed to be able to see to Rey’s soul like there was a connection between them that transcended their mundane world._

_Rey was still recovering from the accident when it happened.  She accidentally fell asleep in the living room while Ben was working one of the odd jobs he did to make ends meet and was awakened by a loud crash in the kitchen.  She got up and hobbled her way to the kitchen only to find her two-year-old son sprawled on the floor surrounded by shattered plates with a steadily bleeding wound in his head._

_She screamed and it took her a full five minutes to pull her brain together to stumble to the phone and call the ambulance.  Ben had taken the truck to the job site since he sold his car six weeks ago when Rey was told she wouldn’t be able to work for at least a couple months and they needed the extra money for the medical bills and to keep food on the table.  When the ambulance arrived Rey was on the floor next to Jamie holding a paper towel to the wound and sobbing uncontrollably._

_“Why do worthless people have kids?”_

She blinked back tears at the memory and cleared her throat.  She never actually identified if one of the paramedics actually said that or if it was the echoes of her own misery that voiced it.  She never told Ben about it either knowing he’d go into a rage and they were having enough trouble trying to adjust to life with Rey buried in misery.  First she couldn’t protect the child within her own body and then she completely failed one of her beloved twins.  There was no excuse for her.

There still wasn’t.

The night Rey left, she didn’t know where she was going.  Part of her just wanted to catch a ride down to Galveston and vanish somewhere into the Gulf of Mexico.  She did actually make it all the way to the beach, but the cell phone she foolishly forgot to leave behind buzzed in the worn out backpack she’d taken with her and she picked it up.

_“Rey, sweetheart, where are you?  I’m coming for you.”_

Rey hadn’t answered him just watched the waves crashing on the beach for a long moment before dropping the phone and walking away as the tide pulled it in.

“You never came for me,” Rey whispered so softly she hoped he didn’t hear her over the sound of the high school band tramping on the main street.

Suddenly a vise grip closed in on her arm and her eyes flashed up to see red crawling up Ben’s neck into his face and fury flashing in his eyes.  “Maz,” he said tightly.  “Please keep an eye on the children.”

Maz looked startled at the request and Rey realized that both Jamie and Claire pushed all the way to the barrier and were watching the parade with rapt attention.  At the diner owner’s nod, Rey found herself pulled roughly away from the crowd.  His grip was inescapable, but there was still a gentleness to it that Rey couldn’t fathom.  She wasn’t even sure why those words left her mouth.

Ben dragged her towards the shadow between two buildings and released her only to trap her against the wall with an immovable arm to either side.

“You never gave me a chance.”

The words were growled and Rey’s eyes snapped up to his.  “You never said a fucking word about what was going on, Rey,” Ben’s voice was harsh.  “You kept smiling and pretending every fucking thing was all right no matter how many times I asked you.  I…I didn’t know how to reach you without worrying I would break you.”

He took a deep breath.

“Then you left,” he stated.  “I called you.  When you picked up all I heard was the rush of what sounded like waves and then the phone was dead.  It took me over six months to even find a hint of where you’d gone.  I was so scared.

When they finally found your trail, I couldn’t go after you.  I had the kids and the tornado just tore everything apart.  By the time we got everything restored to a semblance of normalcy it was almost sixteen months.  I did show up in Ash Fork once.  You looked like you were doing well.  You had color again, I saw you laughing with Rose.  I felt like you were going to be better there and I didn’t know if I could make you smile or laugh again here.  So I left.”

Her breath caught.

A million emotions were flickering across his face. 

Rage.

Hurt.

Confusion.

Sadness.

And most of all…

“Why?” she whispered.

“Why what Rey?” he demanded.

“Why do you still love me?” Rey demanded.  “I left you.  I left the kids.  I failed as a mother.  I failed as a wife.  I failed at everything!  I couldn’t keep anyone safe.  You should divorce me.  I’m nothing.”

“Not to me, sweetheart,” Ben’s voice was soft, air rushed over her face scented with the spearmint gum he was so fond of.  “Never to me. Rey…”

“Get your hands off her you bastard!”

The words rocketed over the roar of the crowd and Ben pulled back in startlement and Rey saw the bartender from Mos Eisley silhouetted in the alleyway.  Finn lunged in plainly planning to drive his fist into Ben’s face and behind him Rey saw Poe Dameron with a frightening scowl behind him.

“Finn, no!” Rey screamed and put herself between her husband and the muscular black man.  “It’s not what you think.”

Finn stumbled and Poe was there in a flash to keep the other man from overbalancing.

“He’s my husband.”

The words left Rey in a rush and she saw the shock flicker across Finn’s face and watched Poe’s eyes narrow.  “It’s not that Poe.  It was never that. I told you that a hundred times,” Rey said softly.

Her eyes went to the slowly gathering crowd at the end of the alleyway.

“I should go,” she announced and turned to face her husband.  “Ben…”

“Don’t go, Rey.” Her name was a breath and he slowly extended his hand.  “Talk to me.  Please?”


	4. Bring on the Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey struggles with the decision to stay in Takodana or to continue on the road with Rose. Rose has A LOT of opinions (as all best friends do when you're contemplating life-altering decisions)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've expanded the chapter count by a little bit and moved this story to my weekly update list. Takodana Winter Festival will be updating on Wednesdays until I finish it. There is a slight chance that the chapter count might change again--but I think it's going to be pretty solid at 6.
> 
> This week's title come from the song "Bring on the Rain" by Jo Dee Messina (one of my all time favorite female country singers).
> 
> Lyrics that caught me:
> 
> It's almost like the hard times circle 'round  
> A couple drops and they all start coming down  
> Yeah, I might feel defeated,  
> And I might hang my head  
> I might be barely breathing, but I'm not dead
> 
> Tomorrow's another day  
> And I'm thirsty anyway  
> So bring on the rain

** Bring on the Rain **

“You can’t just leave, Rey.”

Rey was in the hotel room she shared with Rose putting all of her clothes in the small bag she brought with her.  Rose was scheduled to be back on the road tomorrow morning at 6 AM.  Rey stuffed the leather jacket in her bag with more force than necessary. 

“Yes I can.”

“No you can’t.”

Rose’s voice was stubborn and Rey whirled around to face her.  “What the fuck do you know?”

“I know that you don’t want to go again,” Rose said not even flinching at Rey’s anger.

Rose crossed the carpet between them and put her hands on her friend’s arms.  “That is your husband.  Those are your kids,” Rose said softly.  “They’re your _family_.  You can’t just let this all go.  This Rey person that left Takodana six years ago…she was a frightened girl who couldn’t figure out how to put all of her emotions in order.  She was lost, but she wasn’t that lost…she didn’t go into the Gulf of Mexico.”

Rey’s eyes snapped down to meet her friend’s and her breath caught.

Yesterday after the altercation and Ben’s plea, Rey told him that now wasn’t the time or place.  She’d pulled away from all of them and shoved her way through the gathering crowd and came up short when she saw Maz and the twins watching the crowd.  She moved to the twins and reminded them that the best part of the parade was yet to come and they should go finish watching it.  Claire was reluctant to go along with it, but Jamie agreed and dragged his sister back to the barricade where the parade was continuing without interruption.  Gossip at Mos Eisley would be hot, but for now…the last of the floats were rounding the corner with “Santa Claus” (who was secretly Charles “Chewie” Kincaid, owner of Chewie’s Garage) at the front and Rose just above singing “Santa Claus is coming to Town”.

The concert afterwards went off without a hitch, but Rey used the confusion to vanish into the darkness and return to the hotel.  Rose burst in long afterwards and demanded to know what exactly was going on when she saw Rey’s red-rimmed eyes.  What followed was wine sent up to them on Rose’s dime and a full confessional of every sin Rey ever committed and why she shouldn’t have come to Takodana.

“That was a Rey I don’t know,” Rose continued.  “You see the Rey I know worked for a mechanic who treated her like shit and gave him what for until he backed the hell off.  The Rey I know took a second job at a diner she didn’t have to after her friend mentioned she felt frightened then beat the shit out of the assholes that were hassling themd.  The Rey I know defended someone she didn’t even know who stumbled into a bad situation after getting drunk and going on a bad trip.  She didn’t back down and she didn’t let go until she knew everything was going to be okay.  The Rey I know stopped drinking in bars when she was with me to help me make sure I stayed on that wagon.  The Rey I know is fearless.  She’s a survivor.  She will kick the ass of anyone who hurts her family—even if it’s her own ass because she’s the one hurting them.”

“Six years Rose,” Rey rasped out.  “I left them alone for six years.  All of them.  I wasn’t there when he opened his business and was working long hours to try and put the town back together even with everyone opposing him and taking care of the twins.  I wasn’t there on their first day of school to pack them a lunch like I always wished my mom would’ve.  I promised myself I would do that.  I promised them I’d be there and I ran.  I can’t stay here.  I don’t deserve to even try and fix anything.  It’s better if I just go.”

“There’s a tall, dark, and handsome in the hotel lobby that says otherwise,” Rose said drily.

“What?” Rey asked in surprise.

“You can’t just walk away, Rey, not this time,” Rose said gently.

Rose’s hands moved from Rey’s arms to her cheeks and she forced Rey to look her directly in the eyes.  “If you _really_ think leaving is the best.  Go downstairs and tell him that.  Go downstairs and tell him in front of those two adorable little urchins that you don’t want it.  That you’re going to walk away.  Tell him you want the divorce.  Tell them that you don’t want to get to know your own children.  Tell him good-bye—for good this time.”

Rey sucked in a breath that turned into a sob.  “I can’t.”

“I know, Ray-Bay. That’s why you need to pull the Rey of six years ago out of the closet and confront her with the Rey I know now and tell her that you’re going to try and fix it,” Rose said.  “Tell her this is why six years ago Rey didn’t walk into the Gulf of Mexico and disappear like she so desperately wanted.”

“It’s not Ben’s job to fix me,” Rey flared.

“No, it’s not,” Rose agreed.  “It’s your job to fix you.  So stay here and fix you.  Try and mend some fences and build some bridges.  You didn’t want the life in Ash Fork and I know you don’t want a life cooped up on a tour bus with an egomaniac and a trigger-happy security guard.  I don’t want that life, but I’ve still got two years to go, but you don’t have to Rey.”

“But I promised…” Rey began.

“When did you promise?” Rose asked.  “You said you’d stay as long as you could.  This is the end of the road Ray-Bay.  As much as I would love to have you maintain my sanity in person, I’ll have to settle for phone calls and Face Time for now.  In two years, we’ll see where I wind up.  For now though Rey, you need to stay here.”

“I can’t talk to him right now. I need time,” Rey said.

“How much time?” Rose asked.  “I’ll go down and tell him, but you need to give me a solid time he knows you’re going to be there.  I’ve paid for the room for another week—I couldn’t afford more than that.  You’ll have to figure it out from there, but Ray-Bay you’ve gotta try.”

“Rosie…”

Rey’s words choked off in a sob as tears filled her hazel eyes.  “I’ve got your back Rey, no matter how this turns out,” Rose said, “but do me a favor and try and work it out.  I’d really like to be able to come back and visit and chat more with Finn after he so valiantly stepped in to defend your honor and I’d rather stay in your house—wherever it winds up—than in this hotel.”

“But Rosie, what if it doesn’t work out?” Rey asked softly.

“If, and honestly I think it’s a really _big_ if, it somehow doesn’t work out, find me on the road. After this tour wraps and I see what other hoops I have to jump through we’ll sit down and see if we can figure it out,” Rose said.  “I’ll miss my sanity, but I think you’ll regret leaving this undone even more.”

“Four days at Mos Eisley,” Rey said quietly.  “At 6 PM.”

“Okay,” Rose said.  “I’ll hold you to that. Don’t you dare run away Rey.  I will find you and drag your ass back here myself.”

“I won’t run,” Rey said her jaw set and determination filled her eyes.  “Not this time.”

“That’s my Ray-Bay!” Rose crowed and placed a smacking kiss on her cheek.  “I’ll go down and tell him.  Don’t make me look bad.”

“I won’t,” Rey said.

“After that I’m going to do some karaoke and slip my number to the bartender.  Don’t let Hux and Phaz drag me back before I get one song in,” Rose said.

Rey couldn’t help but smile.  “Don’t stay out too late Rosie; you’ll need your beauty rest.”

“I’ll be back by midnight.”


	5. What the Heart Wants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reminiscing on a winter evening after the kiddos head to bed, Ben reflects on everything that led him on the road to Rey .
> 
> Trigger note: There is mention of attempted assault (nothing overly detailed), it ends with Rey kneeing the guy in the balls and Ben sending him packing by being the intimidating bastard he is (it's the last italicized flashback if you need to skip it but want to read the story).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ("Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts came out 10 years later than most of these songs so it's disqualified for a chapter title >.>...ooh, but I can get away with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's version of the song, that was 1994...hmmm).
> 
> This chapter got pretty long, but I'm not sorry for it...it finished when it decided to finish.
> 
> This chapter's inspiration is "What the Heart Wants", no not the Selena Gomez song, this one was done by Collin Raye in the 90s ^_^
> 
> Lyrics of Note:
> 
> It ain't the mind that calls the shots round here  
> A stronger power's pulled to bodies near  
> Nothing on Earth can interfere  
> When love is what the heart wants
> 
> They made a wish on the evening star  
> From a rooftop high above the boulevard  
> Up in the twilight sky  
> He held her hand, she held her breath  
> Two lonely hearts beating scared to death  
> Of a chance to fly  
> Giving in to the arms of fate  
> This isn't quite like the plans that they made

** What the Heart Wants **

Ben paced the lobby of the hotel while Jamie led Claire on an adventure to explore the building.  They’d only been to the hotel once when they were four at one of the first events Ben was voluntarily invited to after Rey left—Chewie and Maz’s ‘declaration ceremony’ or that’s what the diner owner called it anyway as neither she nor the gruff old mechanic wanted to get married at their age, but they wanted to be ‘right’ about living together.  He still felt vaguely uncomfortable in town especially after Dameron’s reaction at the parade, but all the townspeople loved to interact with Claire and Jamie so they tolerated him.

He’d thought things finally changed, but he was apparently wrong.

When he first married Rey, Dameron made no secrets of doing welfare checks on Rey no matter how many times it was definitively proved Ben didn’t lay a violent hand on her.  Yes, he had a temper, but he never took it out on a living being--something he learned from an old family friend.  Over the past couple years, Dameron and he became what he thought was, if not a friends, at least  acquaintances who met at Mos Eisley for a beer if the kids were tucked in for the night and Kaydal or Maz didn’t mind watching them.

It was amazing how quickly things reverted to the way they used to be.

He sat down on the couch of the lobby, his long fingers tapping against his thigh as he watched the elevator.  The girl named Rose said she’d let Rey know he was there.  When his fingers got annoying he ran them through his dark hair and then his leg began jiggling, he felt like his heart was doing double time every time the light on the elevator he was focused on moved.

Finally it hit the lobby and he jumped to his feet and then was disappointed when the petite Asian girl stepped out and moved towards him.  “Where’s Rey?” he demanded as soon as she was within range.

“Cool down handsome,” Rose said reaching out and touching his arm.  “She’s still sorting through all those tangled emotions of hers.”

“God dammit, I need—” he started.

Rose shook her head.  “If you go up there now, you’ll spook her,” she said firmly.  “Be a little patient.  I can tell you, however, that she’s not going with me when I leave tomorrow.”

“What?” Ben blinked.

“Rey promised me she was going to try and figure this out,” Rose said.  “Right now Rey’s gotta sort through her mind and decide what she’s doing.  She knows you’re down here.  She knows you need to talk to her and she promised me she would meet with you—just not yet.”

“When?” Ben asked hating the way his voice took on a plaintive note.

“Six PM at Mos Eisley two days after Christmas,” Rose said and handed him a folded paper.  “And if for some reason she doesn’t show, here’s her phone number, address in Ash Fork, and her e-mail if she tries to give you the slip.  Rey is lost and scared still, but at least she’s not walking into the Gulf.  She’s still grappling with her demons.”

Ben’s breath caught.

“Rey…” he whispered.

“Please, have faith in her,” Rose said softly.  “Rey won’t run this time.”

“If she does, I’m coming after her,” Ben said grimly.

Rose smiled.  “If I find her first I’ll hogtie and sit on her until you get there.”

Despite himself Ben laughed.

“Don’t doubt me,” Rose said flexing her arm.  “My sister and I grew up on a ranch in Arizona; I know what I’m doing.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Ben said.

“You can count on me,” Rose said.  “For now though, I gotta get to Mos Eisley before Hux sends Phaz after me.  I need to blow off some steam before they coop me up on that damn bus for another four weeks.”

“I’ll get out of your way then,” Ben chuckled then sobered as she blew out the door.

His dark eyes turned to the elevator and he watched it for a long moment before calling for Jamie and Claire.  The twins barreled in and drew up just short of him huffing and puffing their cheeks rosy with exertion and excitement in their eyes.  “Mama Maz is makin’ the dinner tomorrow!” Jamie announced.

“We can go right Daddy?” Claire asked.

“Yeah, we can go,” Ben smiled and ruffled their hair.  “For now though, we should head home.  Do you guys want to stop at the store on the way and we’ll buy stuff for s’mores and make some in the living room fireplace tonight?”

“Yeah!”

The twins cheered and Ben smiled at them and shoved the thoughts of Rey to the back of his mind.  He had to take care of the kids now and they didn’t need to see him upset.  They rushed for the door and Ben turned away from the elevator striding after them and telling the kids they needed to slow down.

Later that night, Ben stood out on the porch and stared at the half-moon in the sky, a rarely seen cigarette between his fingers.  The cigarette was over half gone but he hadn’t had more than the initial first puff.  His breath swirled in the air and he remembered the first time he met Rey.

_“It’s cold out here tonight isn’t it?”_

_The words caught him by surprise and he turned to see a girl wrapped in a heavy jacket standing behind him.  Her hair was up in an odd three-bun style and she was wearing a bulky gray jacket over stained denim and her feet shoved into worn ankle boots.  He put his cigarette to his lips and took a deliberate puff and then blew the smoke away._

_“And?” he asked._

_“You’re new here aren’t you?” the girl asked._

_“Yeah,” he said.  “What of it?”_

_The girl looked momentarily taken aback by his tone and then shook her head.  “Nothing,” she said and leaned against the same railing he was.  “Last new person in town was me ‘bout seven years ago.  Everyone is talking.  Why are you here?  Takodana is the middle of nowhere.  You’d think someone like you would find some place a lot more interesting.”_

_She moved in closer and Ben took a deep breath—she smelled like sunshine and…motor oil?_

_“Were you double dog dared by those girls over there to come talk to me?” he questioned his eyes going to the gaggle of giggling girls just far enough away for him to not quite make out their voices._

_“Well they did promise me five bucks if I managed to talk to you for five minutes,” the girl admitted.  “Pretend you’re interested and I’ll split it fifty-fifty with you.”_

_Ben chuckled in spite of himself.  “And what am I going to do with two-fifty?” he asked._

_“I dunno, but that’s the last bit I need to be able to buy my grandpa his Christmas gift,” she said.  “I’m Rey.  Rey MacGregor.”_

_“I’m Kylo Ren,” he introduced himself._

_She gave him a skeptical look.  “What the hell kind of name is that?”_

_“The only one you’re going to be getting from me tonight,” he said.  “Why are you Rey?  That’s a guy’s name.”_

_She shrugged.  “Dunno.  I never knew my mom to ask.  So you’ll play along…Kylo Ren?”_

_“Sure why the fuck not,” he said and finished his cigarette.  “And you can keep the whole five.”_

Ben took a drag of the cigarette and nearly choked on the smoke for a moment.  Rey was fifteen then and he had no idea she was going to be in his English class at the local high school or the trouble he’d find himself in.  He made a face at the acrid taste in his mouth and stubbed out the cigarette on the oft-burned railing and tossed it in the rust-splotched remains of the silver coffee can underneath.  His fingers delved into the pocket of his flannel shirt and he pulled out a stick of spearmint gum and put it in his mouth.

_“Here, take this.”_

_Ben found himself face-to-face with Miss Rey MacGregor once again and she proffered a silver-wrapped item._

_“What’s this?”_

_“Spearmint gum,” she said.  “Grandpa said it helped him quit smoking and you’re being a jerk right now so I’m going to assume you’re having a nic fit.”_

_“You shouldn’t be out here,” he stated.  “Isn’t your date inside?”_

_“Teedo isn’t actually a date,” Rey said.  “He asked me to come and I wanted to go so I said yes.  He’s making out hardcore with Emma right now.  He just asked me to make her jealous.”_

_“And you’re not mad?” Ben asked feeling angry on her behalf._

_“No,” she said.  “I am mad that you didn’t even compliment my dress tonight.  I got it in black because you seem to like that color.”_

_Ben most definitely noticed the dress and the way it emphasized the tanned skin dotted with freckles across the shoulders and he was also_ very _aware of the fact she was sixteen and his student.  “You’re my student, Rey,” he said.  “I’m not supposed to be giving you compliments.  I could go to jail or, worse, lose my job.”_

_“Doesn’t mean you can’t at least tell me I’m pretty,” she pouted and then turned her attention to the landscape beyond the school gym.  “You were pretty rude to Ms. Snokely back there.”_

_Ben sighed.  “She’s an old married bat who needs to leave me alone,” he said.  “I’ve been as polite as I can manage—my mother would be proud.  If she touched my arm one more time I may have done something I regretted.”_

_“You should be careful.  The Snokelys have a lot of power in this town and can make life living hell if you’re not careful,” Rey said._

_Ben unwrapped and put the gum in his mouth, chewing it for a couple seconds before speaking again.  “Why are you out here?” he asked.  “I’m sure you can find someone else to dance with.”_

_“Because the only person I really wanted to see tonight was out here,” Rey said._

_Ben was taken aback.  “You can’t say stuff like that Rey.  Go back inside.”_

_“No.”_

_He looked at the stubborn set to her mouth and ran a hand through his hair blowing out an exasperated breath.  “Then I’m going inside,” he stated and stalked back in._

The gum lost its taste quickly as it always did and Ben spat it out into the can that had years’ worth of accumulated cigarettes and chewing gum inside.  He remembered standing on this very porch and talking with Old Ben MacGregor just weeks before what seemed to be a sudden onset of throat and lung cancer took the old man from the world.  Growing up, Old Ben was a fixture around his mother’s house forever drifting in and out of younger Ben’s life and leaving him with sage advice on everything from women to negotiations to how to write in elegant calligraphy as a way to meditate through some of the worst of the anger spurred by his parents’ constant comings and goings.  Something Ben never admitted was that part of the reason he wanted to come to Takodana was because Old Ben was here and he hoped that he would be able to recapture some of his better childhood moments being in the same town as the old man.  It worked to an extent, but it was also through that Ben wound up getting closer to Rey than he ever intended though Old Ben stated quite firmly that if he even thought about touching Rey he’d grab a shotgun and shoot him.

It was at Old Ben’s funeral that Ben took the first fateful steps to Rey.  Their shared grief had them in the bed of the old pickup truck that Old Ben gave Rey for her sixteenth birthday, staring at the stars as he listened to her reminisce about her grandfather the summer before her senior year.  He never really got a chance to share his own past with Old Ben with Rey because it was then that he realized his feelings crossed every line he was comfortable with.  After that night of shared grief things went downhill rapidly as far as his ability to remember all the reasons he needed to keep distance between them.  Just before the end of that summer they had what he thought would be the final knockdown, drag-out fight about the fact that a relationship would never work for them.

After that fight, Rey completely ignored him, went out of her way to avoid him, and started dating other boys in her class.  Ben thought he would be relieved when she finally moved on, but every time he saw her laughing or giggling with one of her boyfriends it would put him in a foul mood he couldn’t shake.  Ben fought his feelings for her on every level even tried to get out of teaching her classes at school without smearing her good name.  Realizing he was two steps from making a mistake he would forever regret, he made plans to resign from his position at the school at the end of December and reluctantly move back in with his mother while he figured out what the hell he could do with an English degree besides teach school. 

But then Homecoming happened…

_Ben stepped out into the crisp October evening grateful to escape the press of teenage bodies, terrible pop country music, and Mrs. Snokely, who didn’t quite get his refusal to do anything with her.  He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, pulling a grateful drag into his lungs as he moved around the side of the hotel ballroom to enjoy the relative quiet of the evening.  He was about halfway through the cigarette when he heard what sounded like an enraged scream followed by ripping material._

_His legs were moving before his brain fully realized what was happening and he raced towards the sound.  There was an angry grunt and the sound of flesh hitting flesh as he burst into the middle of the hotel’s gardens and he saw Rey with her dress ripped and Unkar Plutt doubled over with his hands over his crotch._

_“What the fuck is happening here?” Ben demanded._

_“She started it Mr. Solo!” Unkar protested. “She’s been teasing me all night and invited me out here.  What am I supposed to think she wants? But as soon as I put my hands on the strap…”_

_“If she said no then you stop.  No ands, ifs, or buts,” Ben snarled._

_He realized his fist was clenched and he was two seconds from pounding the senior football player into the ground.  He was stopped only by Rey flinging herself between him and Unkar.  “Ben, please, don’t go this way…” Rey whispered._

_Ben froze at her words and glanced down at her.  He realized one of her breasts was exposed by the ripped cloth of the gown and picked up faint lines marring the skin.  Anger seared through him, but in that moment all he could see was Rey’s frightened face and he whipped off the leather jacket he was wearing and wrapped it around her slender form.  He pulled her protectively closer and snarled at Unkar to get his ass away from him now and promised that he would be talking to the Plutts about their son’s abhorrent behavior._

_That night he took Rey home to Maz’s and held her while she cried in the aftermath._

Unfortunately, between the Plutts and their closeness with the Snokelys Ben found himself under fire from the townspeople while Unkar’s assault was quietly buried.  He lost his job at the school and the whispers of him defiling an underaged girl haunted him, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave until he knew for sure Rey would be safe from Plutt.  The only townspeople who believed him, besides Rey, were Maz and Chewie and Ben picked up a job to maintain both Chewie’s garage and Maz’s restaurant books by day while he penned bad poetry in nightlight glow as Chewie snored away in the apartment above the garage. 

The barrier of teacher and student being removed was the last nail in Ben’s coffin and he found himself spending time with her when she was working on the cars that came into the garage.  On Rey’s eighteenth birthday he took her out and proposed to her under the stars in the back of the old pickup truck.  It didn’t matter to him that he was ten years older than her and she was going to be heading to the University of Texas in Austin in the fall on a full ride scholarship to study engineering.  It didn’t matter that the odds were stacked against him and almost the entire town hated his guts—as long as Rey loved him.

Rey jokingly said that they’d skipped over the whole dating and getting to know each other part of the relationship and the only thing Ben could say in response was that they had forever to figure it out from there.  Rey smiled at him and flung her arms around him and told him yes.  That night was the first time he made love to her and the night that the twins were conceived because he let his emotions carry him away and, for the first time in his life, he threw caution to the wind and gave in to his desires.

Ben’s hands clenched on the railing at the memory and his eyes moved to where he could see the large sycamore tree in the distance.  “I’m sorry old man,” he whispered.

“Daddy, it’s cold outside, you should come in.”

Ben glanced up and saw Claire standing at the screen door with a blanket in her hand rubbing her eyes sleepily.

_But I’m not sorry for them_ , he added silently.

“I’m coming,” he said.  “What are you doing up little one?”

“I had a bad dream and you weren’t in your room,” she said.

“Then I’d better go chase the bad dream monsters from your room,” he said and came in the door and scooped up his daughter drawing a shriek of laughter from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay last time I expand the numbers of chapters--I wound up splitting one of the chapters into two. The rest of this is mostly written...just struggling a little bit to find the appropriate song for the next chapter so I can figure out how to expand 700 words to closer to 2,000 (about the average-ish of the chapters in the story so far).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys are still enjoying this little story of mine ^_^
> 
> Thanks for reading and for the lovely comments!


	6. What Might Have Been

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone in Takodana, TX is attending Maz's blowout "Dinner" where the old diner owner invites everyone in town to join her at the diner now the Winter Festival closed for the year and the majority of the tourists are gone. Everyone except Rey who uses the Dinner as a diversion to go visit her grandfather's grave marker figuring that Ben and the kids were attending the dinner. She was half right...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title comes from "What Might Have Been" sung by Little Texas
> 
> Lyrics that stood out:
> 
> That same old look in your eyes  
> It's a beautiful night  
> I'm so tempted to stay  
> But too much time has gone by  
> We should just say good-bye  
> And turn and walk away
> 
> I try not to think about what might have been  
> Cause that was then and we have taken diff'rent roads  
> We can't go back again there's no use giving in  
> And there's no way to know  
> What might have been
> 
> Though I should note if you watch the video there's a possibility of maybe something working again...
> 
> Carry that with you when you go

** What Might Have Been **

After dragging herself out to see Rose off in the morning, Rey returned to the hotel room and lay in bed staring at the wall until she had the positions of all four dents in it memorized and could vaguely make out the remnants of artwork left by a child whose parents forgot to put the black Sharpie up.  Rose had brought up a bagel and cream cheese, a banana, and two pastries from the hotel’s continental breakfast before she left as well as a cup of coffee that was going to be far too cold to drink.  Rey flopped over onto her back and stared silently at that ceiling picking out the various marks that smoothed out the surface of it. 

From what she understood, the hotel was left mostly standing after the tornado and was turned into a shelter for the dozen or so families who needed a roof over their head while their insurance claims went through and they rebuilt.  It still took her by surprise that Ben created Solo Construction to help the town that treated him like shit rebuild and it irked her to no end to see so many of them fall back into old habits that day at the parade.  She let loose a blistering tirade on Poe Dameron he wouldn’t soon forget that night when she found him towards the back of the crowd at Rose’s concert.  The police officer tried to defend himself, but then gave her an apologetic smile and promised to apologize to Ben the next time the opportunity presented itself.  She didn’t know if he’d gotten around to it yet, but she hoped he would.  Ben was a part of this town in a way that she wasn’t anymore.

She sighed and turned over, her eyes focusing on the leather jacket flung across the back of one of the chairs in the hotel room and the glint of her cell phone next to it.  Sitting up, she ran a hand through the hopeless tangle of her hair and rose to cross to the window.  She could see people moseying their way over to the diner where she could already see a crowd gathering.  A small smile curved Rey’s lips; honestly the Dinner was always the best part of the Takodana Winter Festival.  After all the hullabaloo that surrounded the festival, the time at the diner was priceless.  Families and townsfolk would gather together with potluck dishes. The Fetts would break open a few kegs of beer they kept for this and several bottles of wine would come from old Schumacher’s winery even though the old man long retired from making his county famous wine, but he seemed to have a never-ending supply of ‘just a couple more bottles’.

Suddenly the room felt too small and Rey’s eyes ran around the interior until they settled on the jacket and the key Rose left for her on the table.  In a flash of motion, she was grabbing the jacket and stuffing the key into the pocket of her jeans and heading out the door.  She moved through the lobby like a windstorm and stepped outside into the winter afternoon.  All the decorations were still up for the Winter Festival and would stay until sometime after the New Year.  Ben was probably at the Dinner with the kids and that meant her grandfather’s property would be empty for a couple hours which would give Rey temporary safe passage.

She wasn’t ready to see Ben or the kids, but talking to her grandfather always seemed to help her clear mind even if he wasn’t a physical presence.  She stepped into the streets of Takodana and made a winding path towards the house her grandfather built decades ago.  She took a roundabout route in hopes that she would be able to avoid running into Ben and the twins before she was ready. She stepped in Old Jake’s Market sad to see a statue commemorating the golden retriever who used to tackle her to the ground in a storm of giggles, but patted the statue’s head nonetheless.  The person manning the counter looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there and Rey couldn’t help but smile.  She collected a bottle of Dr. Pepper and a large bear claw from the display and took them to the counter along with a length of fishing line and some only slightly wilted flowers from the black bucket on the far side of the cash wrap.

“That gonna be all for you?” the girl asked in a bored voice.

“Yeah, I think so,” Rey smiled.

The items were rung up and Rey gave her the money before she was back out the door.  Her worn boots ate the distance faster as she closed in on her old stomping grounds.  She passed by Chewie’s Garage, a large sign declaring the shop closed and remembered the day she showed up to work only to have Chewie very firmly guide her away and tell her that no one worked on Sunday on his watch, not even if there were things left undone on Saturday night.  She passed her best friend Kira’s house, boarded up and abandoned just before they entered high school when her father drank himself into a stupor and drowned in one of the creeks. Kira’s mother packed all four of her kids up and moved in with her mama in El Paso leaving Rey at loose ends and not a friend in sight.  Kira left only weeks before Ben came into town to take up the English teacher position left by Mrs. McAfee when she finally decided to retire and move to Florida to live with her daughter.

Rey wondered idly what happened to Kira, after three letters and one long phone call, Kira never contacted her again.  She’d called the number once and got a gruff male voice she didn’t recognize that claimed he didn’t know who she was talking about and slammed the phone in her ear.

As she moved through the town, Rey let thousands of memories assail her.  She carefully avoided one of the corners where she could still hear the sound of squealing tires of a car taking a corner too fast and feel the burn of the pavement.  She wasn’t ready to do that again.  Finally she reached the house and noticed that the old truck hadn’t moved and wondered if it was broken down again.  Her hands itched to pop open the old hood and stare at the engine she helped Old Ben rebuild when she was fourteen, but now wasn’t the time for that assuming she could even get permission to look at it.

Her eyes drifted towards the horizon and widened as she saw the mass of storm clouds starting to gather and she swallowed heavily.  She spent one too many nights alone as a child in the foster system while a storm raged and knocked the power out while the house shuddered and shook at the fury of the storm outside.  When she moved in with her grandfather, Old Ben tried very hard to try and get her to see the beauty in the storms, but she inevitably spent most of it with her face buried in Old Ben’s chest as she trembled.  That didn’t change after she married and had kids of her own though she’d tried to force a brave front for the frightened babies, but she usually wound up burrowed in Ben’s side while he stroked her hair and kept the babies’ cradles moving.

Rey took a deep breath and forced her legs to continue moving.  She had about thirty minutes before it got too bad or so she hoped—sometimes distance over the rolling Texas landscape was deceiving.  She drew in deep breaths tasting the storm in the air, but made her unerring way to her destination.  She bypassed the house entirely and made her way to the single huge sycamore tree that lay towards the edge of the property near where one of the hundreds of tiny creeks rushed through the area. 

As Rey approached the tree she noted that someone was taking good care of it and the single stone marker underneath was clean and in good condition.  The old man wasn’t buried under the marker, it was just a marker for his family to pay their respect at if they were so inclined.  Old Ben designated his wish to be cremated and have his ashes scattered over the property so he could ‘keep an eye on things’ for the future generations in his will.  Rey hunkered down next to the stone and broke the bear claw from the convenience store in half and laid it at the foot of the marker and popped open the Dr. Pepper taking a long pull of the soda before setting the bottle between her and the marker.  She pulled out the flowers and the fishing line and wove an intricate pattern with the line and set the bouquet down as well.

Old Ben MacGregor spent most of his last years teaching Rey to fish in the creek and waxing poetic about the “good old days” and telling her about his daring exploits with Anakin Walker before their falling out.  He taught her to do handiwork around the house, to use a gun, to fix cars, and to laugh.  Prior to his death the summer before her senior year, Old Ben gave everything he could to young Rey and tried to make up for all the love she missed her first eight years of life.  She smiled sadly.

“Hi Grandpa.”

Rey never found out the full story behind how her grandfather came to find her.  She never even knew she had a living relative until this old man claiming to be her grandfather burst into her last foster home and announced he was coming to take his granddaughter home.  It wasn’t as easy as he wanted to make it seem, Rey knew now that he spent a lot of time and money pushing things through the various organizations he needed to in order to bring her home.  It was only after a genetic test and a final explosion that her last foster mother finally signed the papers that sent her from a desert in southern Arizona to the wild green country that surrounded Takodana and into the prickly nest of a small town where Rey had to start all over again.

“I guess it’s been awhile since I came to see you,” Rey continued.

Rey trailed her fingers over the ground underneath her trying to compose her thoughts.  She remembered the night she and Ben lay on an old patchwork blanket under the stars and talked about Old Ben after his funeral.  That night was almost the first time Ben kissed her, but he pulled back and decided they should head back to the house where some of the townspeople were still milling about.  They’d argued only weeks after that and Rey threw herself into trying to be the high school girl everyone expected her to be with boyfriends and football games and everything else, but it was all empty to her especially once Old Ben was gone.  Her only solace was the fact that Ben looked almost as miserable on the outside as she felt inside, but she kept up the appearances until Homecoming night and Unkar Plutt.

She shuddered at the memory and pulled the leather jacket tighter around her as she gazed at the stone through blurry eyes.  She never returned Ben’s jacket and when he got fired from being a teacher at the school because of the Snokelys there was an odd sort of freedom.  Ben was kicked out of the house he was renting for being a degenerate and wound up living in the apartment over Chewie’s Garage with the mechanic.  Rey worked there so it was inevitable that they would start talking and those conversations got longer and longer until she realized that despite all of her efforts the feelings for Ben crystallized and she couldn’t imagine herself in a future without him.  She did manage to keep her mouth shut though not willing to jeopardize her growing friendship with him.  She figured that she would go to University of Texas, get her degree and then after she was fully grown-up she would hunt Ben back down and demand he give her a chance.

Things didn’t exactly turn out that way.

Rey shifted to sit cross-legged in front of the marker.  “I think I fucked things up pretty bad Grandpa,” she confessed.  “I let a wave of bad things sweep me under like you warned me never to do and I ran like your old partner did.”

She talked quietly of all the complex feelings running through her head, taking sips from the bottle that rested between her and the memorial as if she were sharing the Dr. Pepper with the old man the way they did some muggy Saturday afternoons when it was too damn hot to do anything outside, but they were too lazy to do anything inside.  When Old Ben died he left the house and the land to Rey, but she wasn’t going to actually come into possession of it until her 21st birthday and she spent that in a bar in Ash Fork, Arizona thousands of miles away from home.

“On the bright side, the house stayed in the family,” she said, she still wasn’t sure how that happened, but she had a feeling one of Old Ben’s associates was the one who made sure it happened.  “I’m sure your great grandkids churned up this dirt more than a few times on the way to the creek to play.  I’m not sure if Ben knows enough stories about you to tell them how brave you were and how you single-handedly saved an entire caravan on the way to a camp in World War II—well, I guess it was you and Anakin…”

She trailed off and took another sip of the soda her eyes moving up to see the clouds even closer than before and the wind was starting to pick up.  “I want to tell them all about it someday, but I’m not sure I’ll get a chance.  You see I ran away when they were two and I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to want a whole lot to do with me.  I’m sorry…”

Her voice clouded in tears and she cleared her throat.

“Fun fact, I heard that story before you were even born.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the inevitable typos and mistakes I'm going to find tomorrow when I reread this and try and fix ^^;
> 
> We're almost there. Another couple chapters to go--the next one's a doozy...right now it's clocking in at somewhere close to 3,500 words (I may end up messing with it a little bit between now and next week). After that...well, we'll see what chapter 8 is going to hold...
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and I appreciate the kudos and comments!


	7. Like the Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben catches Rey along side her grandfather's memorial and there's a storm rolling in...
> 
> “How come I never knew this before?” Rey asked.
> 
> “Probably because we never really got around to just talking about stuff,” Ben said quietly. “I’d like to do that now. Please?”
> 
> He offered her his hand again and Rey hesitated a moment before reaching out. She placed her hand in his and marveled again about how small it looked against his large, callused one. He drew her up and the first sprinkles hit their skin. “I think we should do it inside over coffee though,” he added.
> 
> “Okay.”
> 
> He didn’t release her hand as they made their way back to the house almost hitting a mad dash to make it before the skies opened up and dumped half the river on them. They ducked inside laughing, but when the screen door slammed shut they went abruptly silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title comes from "Like the Rain" sung by Clint Black. It's always been one of my favorite Clint Black songs ever
> 
> Lyrics that stand out:
> 
> And when the night falls on our better days  
> And we're looking to the sky  
> For the winds to take us high above the plains  
> I know that we'll find better ways to look into the eye  
> Of the storms that will be calling  
> Forever we'll be falling

** Like the Rain **

Ben watched Rey jump and leaned against the trunk of the tree watching her with an inscrutable expression.  He wasn’t sure what made him look out the window from cleaning last night’s dishes, but he would know Rey through sheets of rain wrapped head-to-toe in a burlap sack.  He gauged her trajectory and figured she was heading for her grandfather’s memorial.  At first he was just going to leave her be, Rose told him that she promised to meet him and he was going to hold onto that hope—and the fact that Rose gave him Rey’s cell phone number and address if she decided to run again.  However, he too watched the storm brewing on the horizon and grabbed his jacket and exited the house following her path across the mostly dead grass that made up the acreage behind the house before it hit the trees around the creek.  He could still see the faintest remnants of the fields that once filled the land before he and Rey came into possession of it.

“Here’s another fun fact, I’m named after your grandpa.”

Rey blinked up at him.  “You’re what…why are you here?  Isn’t Maz doing her feast day thing?”

“She is,” Ben said, “but I wasn’t in the mood to go.  Kaydel took the twins so they wouldn’t miss out.”

“Oh…” Rey trailed off.

“That storm’s going to move in a lot faster than you think,” Ben said quietly nodding towards the roiling clouds that were building.

“I’ll be okay.  Don’t worry about me,” Rey said and turned her attention back to her grandfather’s marker.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to trespass, but I wanted to see Grandpa.”

“How are you trespassing on your own property?” Ben asked.

“It’s not mine anymore it’s yours or at least Jamie’s and Claire’s,” she said.  “I think I kinda forfeited it.  You’ve been paying the taxes on it.”

Ben saw Rey hunch over as if trying to steel herself against something, but then the next question brought a slight smile to his lips.  “How are you named after my grandfather?” she finally asked turning to look at him.

“Because my Grandfather was Anakin Walker,” Ben said.

Rey’s eyes widened and she drew in a sharp breath.  “Grandpa said…”

“That Anakin died without a family in a forgotten battlefield somewhere during the Korean War?” Ben asked.  “Yeah, he did sort of.  He was a double agent during the war and in order to preserve the secrecy when he came back to US soil, Anakin was declared dead, his body lost in the Chosin Reservoir.  He lived though, and when he came back he was given a new life as Allen Williams.  He married a Padme Naberrie, took her name, and had two kids before he and his wife were assassinated by someone who discovered who he was.  The kids were my mom and my uncle.  My mom’s adopted family had a lot of interaction with your grandfather and he was kind of a staple in the household for a while until he found out he had a granddaughter somewhere in southern Arizona and decided he needed to reclaim his family home and make a place for her.  He taught my mom a lot about negotiation, political maneuverings, and how to shoot a gun.  She was pretty fond of the ‘old codger’.”

“How come I never knew this before?” Rey asked.

“Probably because we never really got around to just talking about stuff,” Ben said quietly.  “I’d like to do that now.  Please?”

He offered her his hand again and Rey hesitated a moment before reaching out.  She placed her hand in his and he marveled how small it looked against his large, callused one.  He drew her up and the first sprinkles hit their skin.  “I think we should do it inside over coffee though,” he added.

“Okay.”

He didn’t release her hand as they made their way back to the house almost hitting a mad dash to make it before the skies opened up and dumped half the river on them.  They ducked inside laughing, but when the screen door slammed shut they went abruptly silent.  “You’re soaked,” Ben said quietly.  “Go get a shower. I’ll find something dry for you to wear while we get yours dry.”

She hesitated. 

“Go Rey, I’ll put coffee on while you’re doing that,” Ben ordered.  “Everything is still in the same place though I think Claire decided we should replace the sensible towels with hot pink monstrosities and I didn’t feel like arguing.  She’s pretty stubborn, like someone else I know.”

“You don’t lack stubbornness yourself,” Rey pointed out.

“Yeah, but Claire is your mini-me and doesn’t realize it,” Ben said.

Rey flinched and Ben grimaced.  “That wasn’t intended…” he began.

She shook her head.  “Don’t worry about it.  Are the knobs still persnickety?”

Ben smiled wryly.  “I’ve replaced them at least three times, but they always turn out the same.  I’ve given up on it,” he said.

She moved up the stairs and Ben waited until he heard the water heater whine to life before he headed up.  He glanced at the boxes still piled in the closet and couldn’t remember where he put the warm clothing she left behind so he grabbed one of his long-sleeved black shirts and a pair of blue flannel pajama pants.  He opened the door to the small bathroom just enough to reach in, put the clothing on the toilet, and grab the wet clothes on the bathroom floor.  He quickly grabbed a rough towel from the linen closet and stripped off his clothing and dried off.  He donned fresh boxers, soft faded jeans, and an old blue chambray shirt.  He ran a brush through his hair and headed downstairs and tossed them into the dryer, set the timer, and started it.

He went to the kitchen and put coffee on to brew then moved to the refrigerator to pull out some bread and cheese.  He liberated a couple cans of tomato soup from the cabinet and dumped them into the pan, mixing them with milk the way that Rey liked it.  He tossed the bread and cheese together and set those on the George Foreman grill before quickly skimming his eyes over the kitchen and dining room to make sure it was presentable.  Rey probably wouldn’t have noticed when she came in soaked by the rain, but she probably would once she was downstairs and dry.

Satisfied it was presentable he went back to his work.  He just finished adding tomato to Rey’s sandwich the way she liked it, put a dill pickle on the plate, and was placing the sandwiches and mugs of soup on the table when Rey slowly made her way downstairs.  His breath caught as he saw her in his clothes for the first time in over six years.  She looked shy and uncertain, her arms folded and her finger twisting the material as she was wont to do when she was nervous about something.  “I made something to eat,” he announced unnecessarily.

Her eyes fell on the sandwiches and a shy smile lit her features.  She settled on the chair uncertainly and reached for the sunflower mug Ben dug from the deepest recesses of the cabinet and washed before filling it and brought it to her lips for her first sip.  “You didn’t have to feed me,” she said softly.

“I wanted to,” Ben said.  “Grilled cheese sandwiches and hot tomato soup are always a rainy day favorite.”

She nodded slowly and picked up the sandwich and took her first bite.  Her eyes lit up and she eagerly took another bite.  “You remembered,” she said around a mouthful of food.

Ben didn’t trust himself to speak and merely nodded in acknowledgement before biting into his own plain grilled cheese.  They ate in silence for a while neither quite ready to break the mood on the oddly companionable silence that filled the kitchen.  Outside rain lashed against the window and a low rumble of thunder made its way through the sky.

Rey’s eyes flickered to the window and fear flashed faintly across her face as she watched the storm outside.  Ben clenched his hand to restrain the urge to reach across the table and envelope her small hand with his and give a reassuring squeeze.  Rey never liked storms and Ben remembered a hundred different storms where Rey curled up tight in the curve of his body after trying to be brave and pretend she wasn’t afraid.

They finished their meal in silence and Ben cleared away the dishes.  Rey stayed huddled at the table, her hazel eyes distant as she watched the storm outside.  He washed the dishes and put them up except for their soup mugs which he cleaned and filled with coffee instead.

He approached the table with her mug and held it out as another rumble of thunder came.

“Let’s talk, Rey,” he said softly.

“I thought we were going to talk after Christmas,” her voice was hesitant.

“Patience was never my strong suit,” Ben said with a wry smile, “especially when it came to you.”

Rey’s breath hitched and for a moment she looked like she was going to bolt.

Ben knew he was safe for now simply because it was getting darker outside and the storm seemed to be picking up in intensity and she was just wearing his clothes.  He could hear the dryer still going and knew he had some time because he’d put it on for the longest amount of time his dryer would allow without it being excessive.

“Okay, let’s talk,” she agreed.  “But maybe in the living room?”

“All right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, yeah, chapter count went up again...partially because I didn't want to post a monster 3,500 word chapter and mostly because I wanted to do some tweaking towards the latter half of the chapter, but I'm determined to keep up on my update schedule for this one at least ^_^


	8. Help Me Hold On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a storm outside and a storm of a different kind brewing inside an old house full of memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title comes from the song "Help Me Hold On" sung by Travis Tritt.
> 
> Lyrics that stand out:
> 
> Baby close that suitcase you've been packin'  
> Just sit down and talk to me a while  
> I know you tried to tell me what was lackin'  
> But I guess I must have missed it by a mile  
> Well this time girl I swear I'll listen  
> Help me understand where I went wrong  
> It's hard to find myself in this position  
> Scared that I'll go crazy once you're gone
> 
> Help me hold on...to what we had  
> Once our love was strong, it can be again  
> You said it takes two, to make love last  
> You were right all along, so help me hold on

** Help Me Hold On **

They made their way to the living room and Ben settled on one of the chairs while Rey took a perch on the couch where the patchwork quilt Maz made them for their wedding was thrown across the back.  Rey set her coffee mug on the battered coffee table and reached up to run her fingers over the blanket.  “You still have it?” she asked.

“I still have a lot of things,” Ben stated.  “Your memory never left this house.”

Rey’s eyes flickered to him and he took a deep breath.  “Why?” he asked finally.

“Why what?” Rey questioned.

“Why did you leave?” Ben could’ve kicked himself for the hitch in his voice, but it was as good of a place to start as any.

Rey sighed bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms tightly around them.  She laid her chin on her knees and stared past his shoulder collecting her thoughts.  “Because I was broken,” she finally said.  “And it was broken in a way you shouldn’t have to repair.”

“I would have given you anything you needed,” he said.

“I needed counseling. Lots of it and we couldn’t afford it,” Rey said.  “Do you know it took me a full five minutes to actually pull my head together enough to call the ambulance that day?  If he’d been injured worse, it could’ve killed him.  I’d already killed one child and I—”

“It was not _you_ who killed our baby,” Ben interrupted.  “It was the bastard who was running through a town at twenty over the speed limit that killed him not you.”

“I should’ve watched more carefully.  My head was in the clouds. I was planning on what color to paint his nursery and I stepped out without really looking and…he hit me,” Rey said.  “And when Jamie fell that day…he’d asked me for cookies and I said I’d get them in a bit and fell asleep.  He decided to do it for himself and he fell off the stool and hit his head on the corner of the cabinet.  I shouldn’t have been sleeping knowing the twins were awake.”

“You were recovering from a traumatic injury,” he said tautly.  “You hadn’t slept for days without waking up with nightmares.  I should’ve insisted that Maz or Kaydel come over and help you like they offered to, but you said you could handle it and I didn’t want to risk arguing with you and upsetting you.  I should have.”

“Ben you couldn’t have known!” Rey said.  “It was an accident.”

“Exactly,” Ben stated and Rey’s eyes went wide.

He got up and moved across the floor against his will.  “Everything in those weeks between losing our son and then losing you is a blur,” he said.  “I don’t even remember most of the month after you vanished.  You may think I handed everything gracefully, but I didn’t.   I asked Maz to take the kids to her house because I was having a hard time keeping things under control.  I needed to put myself together before I could be what they needed and I managed it…barely.  But there’s always one piece missing…”

Rey’s eyes went wide.

He reached over and grabbed her hand.  “You weren’t the only one who was suffering, Rey, and if you’d talked to me maybe we could have helped each other,” he said.

“I—” she began.

He leaned his head in and their foreheads touched.  “We don’t solve anything by running away, Rey,” he said.  “I wish you’d trusted me enough to stay.”

The house lit up as lightning hit outside and then the lights went out.

He swore and stood up.  “Stay there Rey,” he said.  “I don’t want you to get hurt trying to move around.”

Ben moved to the closet and dug out the hurricane lantern and lit it in the kitchen before coming into the living room.  He set the lantern on the table and it illuminated Rey’s frightened face in orange light.  “Oh sweetheart,” he whispered.

“I’m scared,” she said in a small voice.

“What do you want me to do?” Ben asked.

Unable to help himself he reached out and touched her cheek.

“Sit with me,” she said.

“Anything you need, sweetheart,” he said and settled onto the couch.

Thunder shook the old house and he could feel her trembling as he drew her in closer to him and reached for the blanket and wrapped it around them hoping the familiarity of the material would help calm her a little.  Her trembling lessened but didn’t completely go away.

“Ben…”

Her voice was shaky and Ben knew she was reaching for something else to focus on.  Her fingers found his hand and she dragged her fingertips over the skin of his hand and came to rest on the heavy gold ring that still adorned his finger.  She wrapped her fingers around it and tugged it lightly, but the wedding ring barely budged.  “Why didn’t you file for divorce?”

“I have the papers,” Ben admitted.  “I even filled them all out.  They’re on top of the closet, probably expired by now since they’ve been sitting there for a little over four years.  I couldn’t bring myself to file it because then it meant that I was giving up.”

His arms tightened around her just a little and her breath caught.  He found her left ring finger and felt the delicate band that still resided there.  “You’ve still got your ring,” he noted.

“At first I kept it because it mostly kept men at bay when I was trying to find something to do to get on my feet,” Rey said.  “I took it off for a little while after I established the fact that I wasn’t going to take any shit from any of them, but it never felt right.  I was always restless and couldn’t get my mind to settle unless I had it on.”

He rested his chin on her head for a moment.  “So has there been anyone else?” he asked and then swore at himself when he realized the words escaped.

She tensed her hands stilling.  “Almost once, not long after I finally got settled in Ash Fork,” she admitted.  “He was some stranger blowing through town and I was still so miserable, so broken.  He looked a little like you I think and I fooled myself into thinking he could make everything better the way you always did.  I couldn’t go through with it.  It just felt so…wrong.  He wasn’t you…no one can be you.  He actually took it in good nature—he went to the bathroom and came out and ordered some food and tea.  He sat down with me and invited me to talk about what drove me to be in the room with him.  We talked for hours and it was because of him I realized I needed to get my shit together and try and find some form of stable ground.”

For a moment Ben felt a flare of rage that anyone but him touched his girl, but he forced himself to calm.  “There was never anyone after you,” Ben said softly.

“I’m sorry,” Rey said her hand clenching over his.

He turned his hand to catch hers forcing her to unclench her fist and he twined his fingers with hers.  “Do you still talk to him?” he asked.

She shook her head.  “No, I, uh, never actually got his real name.  We just talked then he slept on the pullout and I slept in the bed.  He was gone in the morning, paid for the hotel room for the next two days and just…vanished.”

Ben was quiet for a long time.  “He helped you and just…left?” he asked.

“I never really thought much about it afterwards.  I was too busy trying to find all those shattered pieces of me I buried and see if I could use some duct tape and Hello Kitty Band-Aids to get things back together,” Rey replied honestly.  “Maybe he was an angel and I’m not supposed to remember exactly.”

“Why did you decide to stay here instead of leaving with Rose this morning?” Ben said.

“Because she finally beat it through my head that I couldn’t keep running,” Rey replied.  “I was supposed to have a few days to compose my thoughts so maybe it would be smoother than this, but…”

Ben smiled wryly.  His arms tightened briefly around her and he couldn’t help but press his nose to her hair.  He smelt the faint scent of the Herbal Essence shampoo he always kept stocked in the bathroom just in case she ever came back home.  She didn’t relax against him like she used to, but she also didn’t pull away.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.  “When I saw you out there I just…I couldn’t let you walk away from me again…”

“You were always a difficult man,” Rey muttered.

Ben’s lips curled in a half-smile.  “Probably,” he agreed.

 “So where do we go from here?” Rey asked.

“I want to tell you to get all your stuff out of the hotel room after the storm and get yourself back home where you belong,” Ben said. “I don’t think that would be a good idea though.”

“Because of Jamie and Claire?” Rey asked.

Ben drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment before expelling it.  “Yes,” he said.

She nodded.  “I wouldn’t expect to be able to waltz in the front door and just pick up things where we left off.  It’s been six years.”

“I never said anything negative about you,” Ben stated.  “I couldn’t really explain to them why mommy was gone, but I made it clear that you still loved them even if you weren’t here.”

“Oh.”

Rey’s voice was soft and her hand tightened around his where it still rested.  “This might take a while,” Rey said.  “The kids probably hate me.  I can’t really blame them.”

“We’ll take it slow,” Ben said quietly.  “As slow as we have to in order to make sure that we have all our pieces this time.”

“I’m not sure how it’s going to work though.  If you want we can check on those papers…”

“No,” Ben growled.

“That was quick,” Rey said.

“You’re still my only one, Rey,” he said.  “I’ll wait as long as I have to for us to get this worked out—even if it takes another six years.  At least this time you’ll be here where we can talk.”

Rey was quiet for a long time and Ben thought, for a moment, she may have fallen asleep.  “I’ll find a place in town to stay,” Rey said.  “I’ll find a job.  Maybe I can come over sometimes and work on the truck?”

“I can think of at least two people in town who would likely hire you on the spot,” Ben said.

There was a shrill ring and Ben snarled a curse and disentangled himself from Rey and went to grab his phone.  “Hello,” he barked into the phone.

“Ah, still grouchy I see,” Maz said.

He felt a flush of shame.  “I’m sorry Maz.  Are you bringing the kids home?”

“The storm out there’s a doozy. I was thinking maybe I’d keep them here overnight assuming the storm is over tomorrow,” Maz said.  “Are you all right with that?”

“Yeah, that will be fine,” Ben said.

“I heard Rey didn’t leave town with Rose.  Do you know her whereabouts by chance?” Maz asked.  “Cody said she left the hotel this afternoon and no one’s seen her come back.”

“She’s safe,” Ben assured her.

“Oh?” Maz asked.  “Did I interrupt the make-up sex and that’s why you’re so grouchy?”

Ben felt his cheeks burst into color and was grateful that the power was out so Rey wouldn’t see it.  “Maz!” he said in a strangled tone.

“Ah, I did.”

He could hear Maz’s smirk through the phone.  “You absolutely did not,” he burst out.  “We’re not to that level yet.  There’s a lot of ground we have to cover before we’re anywhere close to that.”

“Ah but it _is_ a possibility…” Maz mused.

“Shut up Maz,” Ben said.  “I’m hanging up now.”

True to his word he jabbed the disconnect button and threw the cell phone back on the end table.  He returned to Rey.  “Sorry about that,” he apologized.

“Did she ask if we were having sex?” Rey asked idly.

His cheeks burned again.  “Yes,” he bit out and took a deep breath.  “I told her we’re not there yet.”

“It is getting chilly though, do you think you could come back?” Rey asked somewhat plaintively.

Ben smiled softly.  He swept her into his arms for a moment then settled back on the couch and wrapped the blanket around them.  “You always were more desert rat than anything else,” he said fondly.

She fell silent as the storm continued though it sounded like it lessened to just rain.  He felt her head drop back against his chest and she asked softly.  “Do you think we can do this, Ben?” she asked uncertainly.  “Six years is a long time…”

“I never stopped loving you Rey,” he said closing his eyes.  “I think we’ll be able to work it out.”

“Okay.”

Her voice was tiny and almost childish and she shifted into a familiar position curled against him as they both drifted off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go--and it may be an early update depending on how I feel in a couple days...I kinda want to finish before the end of July.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me through this one, I appreciate it very much!
> 
> Please let me know what you think ^_^
> 
> Also for fun, drop me some of your favorite Summer country songs...I have a vague idea, but I can only remember so many of them and "Chattahoochee" by Alan Jackson just isn't fitting the bill for what I'm thinking of...


	9. Imagine That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months later...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter title comes from "Imagine That" by Diamond Rio
> 
> Lyrics that stand out:
> 
> I don't intend to change the world  
> I couldn't if i tried  
> As long as I got you with me girl  
> I'd be satisfied  
> Lets do what we can do what we say  
> We'll just take it day by day  
> 'Cause I want to prove to everyone  
> That it can be done  
> Imagine that  
> A love that lasts forever  
> Imagine that  
> For all the world to see  
> That  
> Two people stay together  
> The way it outta be  
> Ohhhh imagine that

** Imagine That **

“Rey, what are you doing?”

Ben’s demand nearly sent Rey toppling off the ladder she was standing on in the master bedroom.  A snarled curse and two strong arms caught her as she fell back against a broad chest she knew all too well.  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Rey?” Ben growled.

“I was looking for a firestarter for the bonfire tonight,” Rey responded promptly.

She squirmed against him until he reluctantly set her down. 

“You need to be careful,” Ben scowled down at her.

“If you hadn’t come in and scared me half to death I wouldn’t have lost my balance,” she huffed.

“What are you looking for up there?” Ben questioned.

“You’ll see,” Rey said in a sing-song tone.

She could practically feel Ben stiffen behind her and grinned.  She headed straight for the ladder again and climbed it.  She was well aware of how tight her jeans were, but she hadn’t had a chance to gauge Ben’s reaction yet. 

Six months passed since that stormy night in December and it was now closing in on mid-June and the first day of summer was just hours away.  Physically their relationship hadn’t progressed beyond some long kisses at the back door of Chewie's Garage before Rey made her way up the steps to the apartment above it.  However, there were a lot more long conversations held at Maz’s Diner, several rounds of drinks at the Mos Eisley, and more than a few strolls around town chasing down some other memories while the twins were in school.  Last she heard there was a betting pool at Old Jake’s Market about when she’d be moving back in with Ben and the kids.

It was also six months of awkward Sunday dinners Ben insisted Rey attend followed by family time in the living room watching a kid-safe movie or playing boards games (which often degenerated into not quite as kid safe when tempers ran high).  It was always a crap shoot whether or not Claire would deign to grace them with her appearance after all the food was cleared away--sometimes she did, but she always made it very clear Rey was not a welcome visitor no matter how many times Ben scolded her.  Jamie, on the other hand, took a shine to Rey and oftentimes after school he'd wind his way to Chewie's Garage and sit out of the way of his mother's work making conversation or doing his homework on the beat-up desk in the office when Rey was working on something that wasn't conducive to conversation.

Finally she found a thick envelope and dragged it out blowing the dust off of it and sneezing.  “Rey?” Ben said.

She climbed down the ladder and displayed the envelope triumphantly.  “Found it!” she crowed.

“What is that…” Ben trailed off and she saw sudden understanding dawn on his face.

His eyes moved over the official seal and the law office’s address written on the front in elegant calligraphy.  “I think it’d be perfect don’t you?” Rey asked.

A slow smile dispelled Ben’s scowl.  “I think it just might be,” he said.

He reached out and slipped a hand into her hair.

Leaning in closer he stopped just short of Rey’s lips and she felt a burning need to rise to her tiptoes and press her lips to the plush lips she knew all too well.  “Does that mean you’ve decided on your answer?” he asked.

Rey popped up for an instant and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before pulling away from him.  “Claire still hates me,” she said, “but I’m thinking when she turns eighteen I can move back in…”

“That’s still ten years from now Rey,” Ben pointed out.

“I think we can pull it off,” Rey said.  “The apartment above Chewie’s Garage isn’t bad at all and I happen to know this guy who does this fucking fantastic job of fixing things up.”

“I’ve already lost six and a half years,” Ben growled.  “I’m not going to lose another ten.”

“Just because I’m not living here doesn’t mean we’re going to lose anything,” Rey said with a soft smile.

She slipped her arms around his neck and his hands spanned her waist.  Their foreheads met and Ben pulled her closer.  “I love you,” he stated softly.

“I know,” Rey smiled. 

“Ten years really?” Ben half-whined.

“Well unless you pull out that Solo silver tongue I hear legends about and convince her otherwise…” Rey said.

Ben sighed.  “I—”

“Just kiss already.”

The adults both jumped at the authoritative small voice and Rey glanced around her husband to see a twin leaning against each side of the doorjamb with their small arms folded in front of their chests.  Jamie had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face, but Claire was glaring at Rey like she wished Rey would turn into a pile of ash on the floor, but the order distinctly came from the girl.

“I don’t like you,” Claire declared grimly, “but you make Daddy happy.  So kiss him then feed us already.  I’m starving!”

Rey and Ben exchanged a long look and then Ben shrugged his broad shoulders.  “I’ve been informed it’s good Texas manners to listen to a lady when she gives an order,” he said affably.

He bent down and caught Rey’s lips in a long, slow kiss.

There were gagging sounds and mutters of ‘ew, cooties’.

Rey and Ben eventually pulled apart and Ben looked at his daughter.  “Does this mean she can move in?” he asked casually.

Claire scowled.  "I wouldn't go that far, but maybe..."

"Maybe?" Ben prompted.

"If she makes Grandpa's cookies every Sunday I might be able to tolerate it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And that's all folks.
> 
> At least until my brain decides maybe I should write the summer sequel that my imagination's been flirting with.
> 
> A note on “Grandpa’s Cookies”— it’s referring to an old recipe Rey made for “Old Ben”. I suppose I did not really explore Ben’s family that deeply in this...
> 
> I hope that this story was enjoyable and I look forward to hearing thoughts and opinions about it ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> I started a playlist on YouTube that I'll probably be adding to as I go along for those who won't be as familiar with some of the songs I mention:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnIVUhwstGmbchnvvrhRzETQ-oyL3wOP0
> 
> It should be noted, I don't own rights to any of these songs, but for whatever reason (especially since I'm not a country music girl anymore) they seem to come together as a soundtrack for this piece of fiction.
> 
> Please let me know what you think.


End file.
